She pulls away, slithering up my body and landing her panting chest over mine.
“I oughta tie you up more often.” She glides her fingernails over my chest in a circle, and my gut clenches. It feels so good. I pull my hands free from my bondage, turn off the lights, and hold her tight like that. We take a short nap, then make love all over again. That’s what it feels like. Somewhere along the way, we crossed the line and drifted into that place I vowed I’d never venture again. But with Cassidy, it feels different. Better. And while I’m buried deep inside her is when I realize I’ve never made love to another girl, certainly not Sammy. This, right here, is something far more intense than I’ve ever felt before, something far bigger and better than I could have imagined. This, right here, is love.
In the morning, Cassidy refuses to shower with me. Instead, she lands a few sweet kisses to my lips, taking off before the sun has a chance to fully fill the sky.
I give a slight wave from the porch as she takes off like a thief.
I’ve never had a girl stay the night before, and now a single night doesn’t seem like enough.
It’s not.
Come Monday, I count the hours until Cassidy Clayton is seated by my side for Basic Principles of Marketing. She didn’t come by last night, and both my dick and me missed her something awful. But this morning, Cassidy shows up right on time, wafting that sweet, flowery perfume in her wake, and I take in her scent and hold it like the secret we’ve become.
“You okay?” A sheepish grin gets caught up in my cheek, and I can’t seem to shake it. Professor Donovan walks in just as Cassidy beams her golden smile.
“Never been better.” Her country twang comes in strong and elicits a positive response in me right down to my bones. She leans in and whispers, “You able to sit on that tush of yours?”
“I’m right as rain.”
She frowns a moment with that teasing look in her eye. “I’ll try harder next time.”
Class begins, and Professor Donovan drones on, but I couldn’t care less. He could take a millennium to get his point across as long as it means me getting to sit next to this breath of fresh air with our fingers intertwined below our desks as if we were hiding out from the world. And in a way, we are. I think that’s something we need to end. I need to pull her into my world, make her a part of it, show her that I want her in it. As soon as class is over, we pack our things and head on out. I pick up her hand again, and she looks to me with surprise. Her mouth falls open as I thread my fingers through hers, and the crowd swirls around us. Something about this very public show of affection feels monumental. The kind of a moment you look back on and say that’s where we made it official. I try to skim my brain, trying to remember the exact date we first went out, and can’t seem to pinpoint it. Couples have anniversaries, and we’ll need a date because I very much plan on having every anniversary here on out with this girl by my side.
“What are you doing?” She giggles as I lead her down the hall. I have a free hour next, but I know that Cassidy has one more class in the English department. I’ve seen her walk that way enough times, heard her mention she needs to book it if she’s going to make it.
“I’m holding your hand. Would you prefer I take a bite out of somewhere a little more disclosed to make things interesting?”
“What? No!” She laughs, swatting me with her backpack. “People are going to see us. If your unicorn is in the vicinity, she’ll trot right off—and poof, just like that, all of your future beautiful babies will evaporate like smoke.” She tries to wriggle her fingers free, but I won’t let her.
I stop in the middle of the rush of bodies, in the middle of Union Hall, and take her in like this. Cassidy is a beautiful swirling rose picked fresh out of the Garden of Eden.
“I think I’m looking at my unicorn,” I say the words unmistakably clear so she can hear them, know that I meant them for her.
Her mouth falls open.
A familiar dark head of hair bobs in the distance, and I recognize that pout, that shuffling gait smeared with attitude.
“My sister’s down the hall.” I walk us forward a few feet. “You’ve got to meet Piper. She’s going to love you.”
“What!” Cassidy hits the brakes and pulls me in with one whiplash motion. “Your sister?” She stares out at the crowd with that same level of panic she had the other night with Buddy. Good God, I hope she doesn’t have a phobia of sisters as well, but knowing Piper, she could induce one if she doesn’t. “Sorry, hon. I’m sure she’s lovely, but my sweet little behind needs to get to class. You understand.” She yanks free from my hand and bolts like lightning down the hall and into the crowd.
“Shit.” I marvel at how strange that was.